Power line stringing apparatus



March 7, 1961 A. DENCE POWER LINE STRINGING APPARATUS Filed April 16,1958 INVENTOR. AUQJZ Dance,

ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent POWER LINE STRINGING APPARATUS Allen Dence, StarRte., Owego, N.Y.

Filed Apr. 16, 1958, Ser. No. 728,829

4 Claims. (Cl. 254-1343) This invention relates to means for stringingelectrical conductors and more particularly to means for stringing suchconductors over existing high tension lines.

In erecting electric power lines a particular problem is presented whereit is necessary to string such lines over and across existing powerlines. In other cases it is merely necessary to hoist both ends of theline upwardly to spaced supporting towers or the like but this isobviously not possible when there are intervening power lines eX-tending transversely of the line to be erected and at a lower elevation.Various cumbersome and laborious makeshifts have been resorted to butnone of these have proved satisfactory.

The present invention provides apparatus and a method which greatlyfacilitates erecting conductor lines under the stated conditions andwhich accomplishes the desired result with much greater safety.

The accompanying drawing illustrates special novel apparatus and aschematic illustration of its mode of use and the followingspecification describes such apparatus and method in sufficient detailto set forth the principles of the present invention in a manner whichwill be clearly understood by those skilled in the art. However, it isto be understood that such detailed disclosure is by way of example onlyand that the principles of the invention are not limited to the preciseform thus shown and described, nor otherwise than as defined in theappended claims.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a somewhat schematic general elevational view of one form ofapparatus and one mode of practicing the present invention;

Fig. 2 is an elevational view on a larger scale showing the novelapparatus portion of Fig. 1 in another position of operation;

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 but showing a still further positionof operation; and

Fig. 4 is an end elevational view of the apparatus of Figs. 2 and 3.

Like characters of reference denote like parts through-' out the severalfigures of the drawing and, referring particularly to Fig. 1, thenumerals and 11 designate a pair of conductor-supporting towers betweenwhich conductors are to be strung. Merely by way of illustration, towers12 and 13 are indicated which support high tension lines runningtransversely with respect to the lines to be strung between the towers10 and 11.

In Fig. l the numeral 15 designates a pulling line or cable which isemployed merely to pull the conductor into its desired position, a powerwinch 16 being provided to assist in this operation. The conductoritself is designated 17 and is connected to the pulling line 15 by aseries of insulators 18. The insulators 18 are provided for the purposeof connecting the conductor 17 to tower 10 when the installation of theconductor is complete. A sheave 19 is temporarily attached to tower 10and the pulling line 15 is strung thereover as illustrated in Fig. 1.

The conductor 17 which is to be strung between the ice towers 10 and 11is paid out from a drum 21 with the assistance of the usual braking orsnubbing mechanism indicated at 22.

The principal novel apparatus component of the present invention willnow be described, referring particularly to Figs. 2 or 3 since they showthe same on a larger scale than Fig. l. The main body member of suchapparatus comprises a beam 24 which has a central opening 25 by means ofwhich it is pivoted to tower 11 as shown in Fig. 1.

Attached to and depending from each end of beam 214 are snatch blocks 27and 28 which include sheaves 29 and 39, respectively, the blocks beingadapted to be opened from the side, as indicated at 31 in Fig. 4, topermit lines to be introduced to or removed from the sheaves from theside of each snatch block. The snatch blocks 2'7 and 28 are preferablyswivelly attached to the beam 24.

In addition to the pivotal attachment of beam 24- to tower 11 as at 25,each tower is temporarily provided with a sheave 34 which is disposedabove beam 24 and preferably in general vertical alignment with pivot25. A line or cable 35 extends from a power winch 36 and over sheave 34and is provided at its opposite end with a hook 37 which may selectivelybe hooked to the beam through either of a pair of openings 39 and 40provided at opposite ends of beam 24.

The following is a general description of a sequence of steps incidentto a line stringing operation practiced according to the method of thepresent invention and employing the foregoing novel apparatuscombinations. As stated previously, the pulling line 15 is connected tothe conductor 17, which is to be strung between the towers 1t) and 11,by insulators 1S, Winch 16 is operated to pull the conductor 17 to theposition illustrated in Fig. 1 with'the beam 2 held in the horizontalposition there illustrated by the opposing forces of the line 15 actingon sheave 29 and the line 35 which is now connected to the left hand endof beam 24 as shown in' Fig. 1.

When the conductor line 17 reaches the position shown in Fig. 1 it willbe noted that the insulators are generally between the snatch blocks 27and 28, the pulling line 15 being strung over the sheave 29 of the lefthand snatch block 27. Referring now particularly to Fig. 2 the winch 36is operated to pull on the line 35 and thus pivot beam 24 in a clockwisedirection until the snatch block 28 is slightly below the conductor line17, whereupon the snatch block 28 is opened as shown in Fig. 4 and theline 17 is strung over the sheave thereof, and the snatch block 28 isclosed.

.The hook 37 at the end of line is then released from the hole 39 at theleft hand end of beam 24 and is shifted to the hole at the right handand winch 36 is operated to pivot beam 24 to the horizontal positionillustrated in Fig. 3. Snatch block 27 is then opened, the line 15 isreleased therefrom, and winch 16 is operated to pull the line 15 andconductor line 17 farther to the left with the line 15 free of thesheave 29 so that the insulators 18 may pass freely from the beam memberand over to the tower 10 to which they are to be secured. This completesthe portion of the line stringing operation which is novel to thepresent invention and after the mounting of conductor line 17 iscompleted in the usual manner, the operation is repeated with otherlines 17 until the desired number of lines have been strung between thetowers 10 and 11.

I claim:

1. Power line stringing apparatus comprising an elongated beam memberand means pivoting the same to a support substantially centrally of thebeam member, a

sheave above said beam pivot and a lift line extending upwardly from theground and over said sheave, means for connecting said lift lineselectively to either end of said beam member, and a snatch blocksecured to each end of said beam member, said snatch blocks being spacedlongitudinally a distance sufficient to accommodate a string of powerline insulators therebetween.

2. A method of stringing power lines containing insulators, said methodcomprising attaching a generally horizontal beam having a snatch blockat each end thereof to a tower, drawing the line along the leadingsnatch block until the insulators therein are generally between thesnatch blocks, lowering the trailing end of said beam and engaging theline with the snatch block at such trailing end, raising said trailingend until the beam is again generally horizontal, and releasing the linefrom the leading snatch block to permit the insulators to pass the samefreely on further drawing movement of the line over the trailing snatchblock.

3. A method of stringing power lines containing insulators, said methodcomprising attaching a generally horizontal beam having a snatch blockat each end thereof to a tower, drawing the line along the leadingsnatch block until the insulators therein are generally between thesnatch blocks While maintaining an upward pull on the leading end of thebeam to maintain the same substantially horizontal, exerting a furtherupward pull to lower the trailing end of said beam and engaging the linewith the snatch block at such trailing end, releasing said upward pulland transferring the same to the trailing end of the beam to raise saidtrailing end until the beam is again generally horizontal, and releasingthe line from the leading snatch block to permit the insulators to passthe same freely on further drawing movement of the line over thetrailing snatch block.

4. A method of stringing power lines containing insulators, said methodcomprising attaching a generally horizontal beam having a snatch blockat each end there of to a tower, drawing the line along the leadingsnatch block until the insulators therein are generally between thesnatch blocks, engaging the linewith the snatch block at such trailingend, and releasing the line from the leading snatch block to permit theinsulators to pass the same freely on further drawing movement of theline over the trailing snatch block.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS746,718 Loth Dec. 15, 1903 1,670,215 Rutland May 15, 1928 FOREIGNPATENTS 355,002 Great Britain Aug. 20, 1931 940,034 France May 10, 1948

